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Batwoman: Elegy

Submitted by jenna on Sun, 01/16/2011 - 2:13pm

I've really got to stop reading graphic novel comics (and tween novels) when more often than not my review starts with a disclaimer that it's not my genre. I was drawn to read the Batwoman story because the Twitterdome was full of "DC's first gay superhero" buzz. It's true that comics don't speak to me the way I think they should, but sometimes they really really do--like if they're written/drawn by Lynda Barry or Alison Bechdel, so I keep trying. However, lesbian though she may be, Batwoman Kate Kane is no dyke to watch out for, not that she isn't scary. She's a soldier manquée (DADT) with a vicious grudge. Speaking of DADT, I should mention here that Dan Choi served as a consultant for the book. You also might want to know that Rachel Maddow wrote the intro.

I can tell objectively that the art is quite an achievement. Further in its favor is that whenever the story started to piss me off because I wanted to know the history, Rucka provided it. I can't help it if superhero comics just aren't my thing. Isn't it funny how there are things that we all intuitively get and don't get? In my get column are perzines, Bob Fosse and lots of dance styles, the Open Theater, and librarianship, whereas art zines don't talk to me, nor do opera, Broadway spectacles, or epic movies. It's not a matter of taste, it's what nature or nurture prepares you to understand automatically and deeply. Sorry for the digression. I'm just trying to fill this review with philosophy (also a not get) to make up for my idiocy in the superhero comics genre. From now on I'll try to leave it to people like A.j. Michel.